Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
March 29 2015

Pakistan rules out diplomatic ties with Armenia until liberation of
Azerbaijani lands

29 March 2015, 14:13 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova

There is no point of developing any sort of relations including
diplomatic relations with Armenia until and unless it pulls out its
troops from the Azerbaijani territory.

Sabah Aslam, an executive director of Islamabad Institute of Conflict
Resolution made the remark in an interview with Day.Az website.

She said Pakistan considers Azerbaijan as its brother country and it
will continue its support to Azerbaijan untill Armenia withdraws its
troops completely from the Azerbaijani lands.

Pakistan supported Azerbaijan during and after the Nagorno-Karabakh
War in early 1990s and it is one of the few countries that do not have
any diplomatic relations with Armenia due to the ongoing occupation of
20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized lands.

“Pakistan being brotherly country of Azerbaijan, has always been
criticizing massacre in Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenians. Therefore,
Pakistan does not recognize Armenia,” Aslam said.

She also recalled a resolution condemning the occupation of
Azerbaijani territories and Khojaly genocide, approved by Pakistan’s
senate committee on foreign relations on February 1, 2012.

Moreover, the committee has also reaffirmed Azerbaijan’s sovereignty
within its internationally recognized borders and demanded the
execution of four UN Security Council resolutions on the unconditional
withdrawal of Armenian forces from the occupied Azerbaijani
territories, Aslam said.

She also added that Azerbaijan’s support to Pakistan on Kashmir issue
and Pakistan’s support on Nagorno-Karabakh issue is unconditional.
“And it is understood that both the countries will continue its
support till the issues are properly solved.”

Speaking about the Pakistani-Azerbaijani bilateral ties, Aslam said
both countries have strong background.

“Ties between the two countries have been established on ground of
friendly and fraternal precepts. The Pakistani government is fully
aware of the importance of its relations with Azerbaijan. Therefore,
Pakistani leadership has been looking for ways and means to strengthen
its ties and partnership with Azerbaijan by focusing on strong
political, security, trade and commercial relations,” the expert said.

She went on to add that based on strong grounds, the bilateral ties
between the two would be mutually beneficial and productive. “I hope
together both countries make a mark in the pursuance of future
endeavors.”

Azerbaijan and Pakistan are also focused on the development of
economic relations. The two countries have recently agreed on boosting
bilateral trade and investment cooperation.

However, the economic ties between the two countries are not in a
satisfied level as political one.

“Though Pakistan and Azerbaijan enjoy good strategic relations but
unfortunately do not have healthy economic relations. Both countries
have good economic potential but are not sufficiently exploited,”
Aslam said.

She noted that Azerbaijan’s economy boosted a lot in recent years and
there are several doors for Pakistan to get in to boost up its
economies as well.

Aslam said the main reasons for undeveloped economic relations are the
lack of geographic proximity and proper transport infrastructure
between Pakistan and Azerbaijan.

“However, disregard the problems, both countries have numerous
opportunities to develop economic relations in areas such as
education, tourism, information technologies, banking, finance,
science, agriculture, culture, and engineering, oil, gas and
investment sectors. If given attention, Pakistan-Azerbaijan economic
relations can be developed gradually and will turn beneficial for both
the countries in future,” she said.

Aslam further spoke about the two countries role in strengthening
solidarity and cooperation in Muslim world, adding the Pakistan and
Azerbaijan can play vital role.

“Pakistan being second most populous Islamic nation and Azerbaijan a
true democratic Islamic state has all the potentials to gather the
Islamic world. Both countries by building regional and extra-regional
organizations, conducting joint conferences to promote Islamic
solidarity and peace messages around the world, and above all
contributing goodwill among all the member states to strengthen the
Islamic solidarity,” Aslam said.

From: Baghdasarian

EXPOSITION-100ème ANNIVERSAIRE DU GENOCIDE DES ARMENIENS
Dibasar, le peintre des couleurs en mouvement aux personnages empreints de vie

Une dizaine d’artistes Arméniens réunis dans le collectif >. Son arménité et sa profonde sensibilité
arménienne se révèlent dans les couleurs, les costumes, le folklore et
le mouvement de ses personnages qui figent le regard par l’intensité
de leur présence.

Dibasar

Dibasar c’est aussi les gestes de ces hommes et de ces femmes qu’il
peint dans leur action, pleins de vie, de bonheur…et de tourmente.

A l’occasion du 100ème anniversaire du génocide des Arméniens, les
oeuvres exposées de Dibasar rappellent la force de vie du peuple
arménien, tourmenté mais toujours vivant et qui défie le temps dans
toute sa rage.

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 28 mars 2015,
Krikor Amirzayan (c)armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

Armenian Youth Federation Confronts Turkish Ambassador in Argentina

Friday, March 27th, 2015

AYF members in Buenos Aires hand out flyers outside of a conference
where Turkey’s ambassador was speaking. March, 26, 2015. (Photo: Unión
Juventud Armenia de Sudamérica)

BUENOS AIRES–On Thursday, the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) of South
America attended the Argentine Council for International Relations
(CARI) to hand out flyers in a presentation made by the Turkish
Ambassador in Argentina, Taner Karakas, on “The foreign policy of
Turkey in 2015.”

“The Turkish-Azerbaijani denialist lobby continues spreading lies, and
co-opting academics, politicians and journalists,” said the
organization. “We choose again to face the denial of the Turkish state
face to face with its ambassador, providing information about the real
Turkish foreign policy.”

The AYF denounced that in 2014, 2,500 people in Turkey suffered
violence and police harassment. “In the Taksim Square protests in
2013, 11 people died, 8,000 were injured and over 3,000 were
arrested.”

AYF also recalled that the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
said that women are not equal to men because “it goes against nature.”
“In 2014, 296 women were killed and 191 were victims of rape.”

“In September 2014, Erdogan and the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham
Aliyev, announced that in 2015 they would work ‘in a coordinated
manner to dispel the myth of the ‘Armenian genocide.” The denialist
policy of the Turkish government is institutionalized in the Article
301 of the Turkish Penal Code, under which it can imprison those who
‘publicly denigrate Turkishness’ or the ‘Government of the Republic of
Turkey.’ In 2012 and 2013, Turkey was the country with the most
imprisoned journalists in the world, according to the Committee to
Protect Journalists. According to Reporters Without Borders, Turkey is
in the 154th position of 180 countries in its World Ranking of Press
Freedom. In 2014, Erdogan blocked access to Twitter and YouTube before
the municipal elections,” the AYF explained.

Finally, the AYF reported that “the Turkish government maintains
closed borders with Armenia unilaterally, in order to drown Armenia
financially until it ceases its claims for justice for the Armenian
Genocide and the struggle for self-determination of Artsakh.”

From: Baghdasarian

Armenia Warns With Long-Range Weapons

Lragir.am
Politics – 28 March 2015, 17:42

On March 26 the resident representative of Armenia to the OSCE Arman
Kirakosyan addressed the OSCE Permanent Council. He noted that
Azerbaijan has used 120 mm firearm for the first time, which indicates
Baku’s intention to perpetuate the confrontation.

Thereby Azerbaijan is thriving to shatter the three-party truce of
1994 and break the military balance. Ambassador Kirakosyan drew the
attention of the Minsk Group co-chairs and the personal representative
of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office to this dangerous development.

The ambassador quoted the statements of the Azerbaijani president and
minister of defense who lay out territorial claims to the capital and
territories of Armenia and speak bluntly about a military aggression
to resolve the Karabakh issue.

Note that the Azerbaijani minister of defense has recently called to
use every opportunity to kill at least one Armenian.

Earlier, the Armenian Ministry of Defense had announced that
Azerbaijan is using a new tactics in Karabakh – reconnaissance and a
“slow” war. The MFA has actually admitted that Azerbaijan used large
firearms. This is evidence to Baku’s intentions to resume the conflict
and cause instability in the region.

In June the European Olympics will be held in Baku. On the backdrop of
the new military policy of Baku in the area of the Karabakh conflict
this is at least strange. Will the European athletes agree to travel
to a country the president of which encourages killing an Armenian
every day. Will they agree to compete in a country which uses large
firearms? Will they agree to come to a country which provokes the
Armenian side to take responding actions?

The statement of the Armenian ambassador to the OSCE could be seen as
a peculiar warning to the Europeans that the Armenian side will not
leave Baku’s provocations unanswered. The Armenian side can use
similar arms in answer to the use of big diameter firearms, including
long-range ones. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan is not a big country and
Armenia has already warned that it has weapons to hit every single
point in Azerbaijan.

In his speech Ambassador Kirakosyan hinted that the Armenian forces
had to be tough on the Azerbaijani reconnaissance-in-force on March
19. This policy will continue, of course, unless the Europeans boycott
Azerbaijan by June.

From: Baghdasarian

FOOTBALL-ALBANIE-ARMENIE (QUALIFICATIONS EURO 2016)
La sélection nationale d’Arménie s’est envolée hier pour l’Albanie

L’équipe nationale d’Arménie depuis l’aéroport international Zvartnots
d’Erévan s’est envolée hier en fin de matinée pour l’Albanie.
L’Arménie avec Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Youra Movsissian, Kevork Ghazarian
et Roman Berezovski, affrontera dimanche soir à 18h00 à Elbasan (ville
de 80 000 habitants en Albanie) l’équipe d’Albanie qui reste favorite.
Le match comptant pour les éliminatoires de l’Euro 2016 de football
est important pour les deux équipes qui cherchent une qualification.
Aujourd’hui à 17h00 le sélectionneur arménien Bernard Challandes
donnera une conférence à la salle de presse de >. La
sélection arménienne s’entrainera ensuite vers 17h30 pour préparer son
match de dimanche au cours de laquelle seule la victoire intéresse
tant l’Albanie…que l’Arménie.

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 28 mars 2015,
Krikor Amirzayan (c)armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA: CAN FRENCH HYPERMARKET GENERATE GENUINE RETAIL COMPETITION?

EurasiaNet.org
March 25 2015

March 25, 2015 – 2:06pm, by Marianna Grigoryan

After years of controversy, the French-run hypermarket chain Carrefour,
one of the world’s largest retail giants, finally opened a store
in Armenia earlier in March. But, for many Armenians, the opening
signified more than just easier access to a vast array of retail
items. Rather, it signaled a potentially significant step for Armenia
toward genuine market competition.

When it comes to competitive pricing of retail goods Armenia ranks
poorly among formerly Soviet states. A 2013 World Bank report ranked
Armenia as the most monopolized economy among the then-11 former Soviet
republics that comprised the Commonwealth of Independent States. Little
evidence exists to suggest that conditions have changed significantly
over the last few years.

“Carrefour’s entrance into the market is definitely a positive
step,” commented economic analyst Hayk Gevorgian, who works for the
pro-opposition Armenian Times daily.

Political analyst Richard Giragosian agreed. Carrefour’s opening in
Armenia “may mark an important turning point in the development of
a more open and competitive market,” he said.

President Serzh Sargsyan himself opened the hypermarket’s doors on
March 11. The opening was several years in the making. And after such
a long delay between the initial announcement and the actual opening,
Gevorgian and some other observers wondered whether Sargsyan’s presence
at the grand opening indicated that the French firm had cut some kind
of deal with the government-connected firm that has long dominated
food imports and retail in Armenia — Alex Grig.

A company associated with ruling Republican Party of Armenia MP Samvel
Alexanian, Alex Grig ranked in 2014 as the country’s third-largest
taxpayer (about 21.57 million drams or nearly $45 million). According
to the State Commission on Protection of Economic Competition of
Armenia, it partially or fully controls local markets for margarine,
chicken, oil, sugar and other food products.

No anti-trust actions have ever been launched against Alex Grig.

Economy Minister Karen Tchshmaritian denied at a December 2014 news
conference that monopolies control Armenia’s economy.

At first glance, any food face-off between Alex Grig, via its chain
of 12 Yerevan City supermarkets, and Carrefour might not appear much
of a fight.

Carrefour ranks in size second only to Wal-Mart last year, generating
over 74.7 billion euros (more than $82 billion) in net sales from
stores in 33 countries. The Armenian hypermarket is its second location
in the South Caucasus; another store opened in the Georgian capital,
Tbilisi, in 2012.

Alex Grig, which markets its own items in its Yerevan City
supermarkets, currently dominates grocery sales in the Armenian
capital.

Though small, it is a fiercely defended food fiefdom. In 2013,
after announcements appeared that Carrefour would open in Yerevan’s
high-end Dalma Garden Mall, the space instead was taken over by
another Alexanian-family-owned supermarket, Gourmand.

Yet the Armenian government has its own aims, too.

On a 2014 visit to Yerevan, French President Francois Hollande
visited Carrefour’s present site and claimed that the hypermarket
would encourage other French companies to invest in Armenia.

That prediction, still unfulfilled, generated lots of attention. At
over $99.1 million, France ranks as the largest European foreign
investor in Armenia, and the second overall after Russia, according
to official data.

Despite its membership in the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union,
Armenia, beset by a weak economy, remains interested in strengthening
ties with the European Union, of which France is a founding member.

But did the desire to attract more foreign investment prompt President
Sargsyan to push his party’s MP, a longtime close political ally,
to tolerate Carrefour’s entry into the Armenian market?

No one can say for sure. But Sargsyan recently brought an even more
powerful politician-businessman to heel. In February, Sargsyan publicly
derided Gagik Tsarukian, a big-spending former ally and head of the
opposition Prosperous Armenia Party, as a blight on Armenia, and
removed him from the National Security Council. Tsarukian promptly
resigned from his party post once investigators began to take an
interest in his financial dealings.

Against that backdrop, some believe that Sargsyan made his views
on Carrefour plain to Alexanian, who chose to comply rather subject
himself to the “Tsarukian” treatment. “[T]he mere fact that Armenia
and France became godfathers on a presidential level [to Carrefour
Armenia] means that the two sides came to an agreement,” said political
analyst Safarian.

Economic analyst Gevorgian agreed. “Carrefour did not fight much
against the obstacles” that prevented its Dalma Garden opening,
he said. “They came to an agreement. That is why it has opened.

Otherwise, the opening would have been delayed again.”

Representatives of Carrefour and Alexanian did not respond to requests
for comment. Alexanian’s wife, Shoghine Alexanian, is registered as
the owner of Alex Grig. The MP denies that he owns anything.

The Republican Party in 2012 denied to EurasiaNet.org that Alexanian
had any influence over Carrefour’s ability to set up shop in Armenia.

For some shoppers, the prices and overwhelming number of local
products on Carrefour’s shelves are “just the same as in every other
supermarket.”

Carrefour’s office in Yerevan announced that 95 percent of its
food items are sourced locally or from local importers; a rate 22
percentage points higher than the worldwide rate for local sourcing
posted on the Carrefour website.

In Armenia, the volume of these purchases does not always appear to
affect retail prices. The 369 dram (77 cents) price for a kilogram
of Alex-Grig sugar, an import market controlled by Alex Grig, is
the same in both Carrefour’s massive hypermarket and a far smaller
downtown Yerevan City supermarket.

A representative of Carrefour’s Yerevan office told EurasiaNet.org
the store cannot comment on the reasons for selling this particular
sugar or its pricing since the company has many “different providers.”

Such reticence is cause for concern among some analysts that
Carrefour’s entry into the market will not have the desired impact
on fostering a more competitive market environment. Said economist
Vahagn Khachatrian, a member of the opposition Armenian National
Congress and former mayor of Yerevan: “We need time to understand
the real face of Carrefour” in Armenia.

Editor’s note: Marianna Grigoryan is a freelance reporter based in
Yerevan and editor of MediaLab.am.

From: Baghdasarian

LE NOUVEAU BUREAU DE L’APECLE A L’ISSUE DE SON ASSEMBLE GENERALE DU 24 MARS

COMMUNAUTE-LYON

L’Association Pour les Echanges et la Cooperation Lyon Erevan (APECLE)
presidee par Arthur Derderian a tenu son Assemblee Generale a Lyon
au siège de l’association (7, rue Major Martin, Lyon 7e) le 24 mars.

Arthur Derderian, le president de l’APECLE a dans son rapport moral
affirme :

en collaboration avec l’association
Lyon-Quebec la presentation de l’exposition photographique realisee
par l’APECLE > par Violette
Derderian a la Mairie du 6ème arrondissement le 2 avril, une soiree
>, >

Les rapports furent votes. Un nouveau Conseil d’Administration et un
Bureau s’est constitue.

Le Nouveau Conseil d’Administration APECLE 2015-2016 est compose de
11 membres : Rita Basmadjian, Cecilie Berthier, Caroline Chretien,
Arthur Derderian, Violette Adabachian, Caroline Berthier, Anthony
Dderderian, Michael Dderderian, Etienne Derderian, Edmond Garabedian,
Madeleine Yeremian.

Le Nouveau bureau de l’APECLE 2015-2016 est de : Arthur Derderian
(President), Anthony Derderian (1er Vice-President), Violette
Adabachian (Secretaire), Rita Basmadjian (Secretaire-Adjointe),
Caroline Berthier (Tresorière) et Madeleine Yeremian
(Tresorière-Adjointe).

Krikor Amirzayan

vendredi 27 mars 2015, Krikor Amirzayan (c)armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

REUNION AU QUAI D’ORSAY SUR LA QUESTION DES CHRETIENS D’ORIENT

COMMUNIQUE DU DIOCÈSE DE FRANCE DE L’EGLISE APOSTOLIQUE ARMENIENNE

Monsieur Laurent Fabius, Ministre des Affaires Etrangères et du
Developpement International, a mene une reunion de travail sur le thème
des Chretiens d’Orient, mercredi 25 mars a 8h30, au Quai d’Orsay. Cette
reunion s’est tenue en presence de representants des Chretiens et des
minorites d’Orient, de parlementaires et de personnalites (Mme Valerie
Boyer, Mme Valerie Pecresse, M. Michel Vauzelle, M. Robert Badinter,
M. Jean d’Ormesson).

Notre Eglise etait representee par Madame Sona Attamian, deleguee en
charge des Chretiens d’Orient au sein du Conseil Diocesain.

Monsieur Laurent Fabius a annonce la convocation par la France d’une
reunion du Conseil de securite de l’ONU a New York pour lutter contre
la persecution des Chretiens d’Orient et des minorites menacees par
l’Etat islamique le 27 mars.

Madame Sona Attamian a remercie Monsieur le Ministre pour cette
initiative, en rappelant les tragedies recentes subies par les
Armeniens a Deir el Zor et a Kessab comme une repetition de
l’Histoire. Elle conclut en souhaitant que le fonds humanitaire
cree avec l’ONU permette de secourir les populations en danger et
de preserver les eglises, les ecoles, les institutions afin qu’on
n’assiste pas a un deuxième genocide.

Paris, le 25 mars 2015

vendredi 27 mars 2015, Ara (c)armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

TURKEY’S ERRATIC GENOCIDE JURISPRUDENCE

Hurriyet Daily news, Turkey
March 26 2015

by BURAK BEKDÄ°L

In the early 1990s, Turkey started to generously buy off-the-shelf
arms from foreign manufacturers who had happily discovered an emerging
but potentially lucrative market.

Spoiled by big companies vying for Turkish contracts in manners
reminiscent of the insurance policy salesman in Tintin’s adventures,
the Turks occupying important official seats discovered they could
extract benefits from their roles as rich buyers. Some personally
got rich. More innocent ones calculated that Turkey could use defense
contracts as a foreign policy tool.

Before the French legislature recognized the Armenian genocide in 2001
Turkey threatened to freeze all economic, political and military ties
with the country, including defense contracts. The French recognized
the Armenian genocide. And Turkey’s bilateral trade with France rose
from $4 billion in 2001 to $15 billion a decade later.

However, a decade later Turkey was threatening France again: This
time, all economic, political and military ties would be frozen if
the French legislature criminalized the denial of Armenian genocide.

Then-foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the French bill, if passed,
would “dishonor our country and nation.”

Having learned from past experiences how punishing Turkey’s wrath
could be, the French legislature passed the genocide denial bill. A
few months later, France’s Supreme Court overturned the bill. So, “our
country and nation were not dishonored.” In June 2012, Mr. Davutoglu
cheerfully announced Turkey and France could now live happily ever
after.

That set a new Turkish jurisprudence on the genocide dispute. Between
2001 and 2012, Turkey moved from threatening countries whose
legislatures could recognize the genocide to living happily ever after
with such countries as long as their denial laws do not take effect.

As erratic in its position as before, Turkey, these days, is trying
to market a new product. And that new product, too, is related to
a defense contract. In September 2013, Ankara selected a Chinese
company in a multi-billion dollar bid for the construction of its first
long-range air and anti-missile defense architecture. As talks with
the Chinese bidder inevitably stumbled, Turkey first opened parallel
talks with a French-Italian group (whose legislature recognizes the
genocide), which it had ranked second in the bidding, and then with
an American partnership that had come third.

Zigzagging between three solutions ranging between $3.4 billion to
$4.5 billion, the Turks decided to resort to the tactic they had
discovered in the 1990s: Let’s wait and see, before we select the
winner, how Washington and Paris will commemorate the centennial
of the genocide. If, for instance, President Barack Obama kept his
pre-election promise, broke the taboo and used the word “genocide”
in his annual Apr. 24 speech, we cross out the Americans. Similarly,
if the French administration went to another extreme on Apr. 24,
the French-Italian contender would risk losing the contract; Lucky
Beijing. Apr. 24 will be just another fine spring day.

The Turkish inconsistency persists. What if Paris commemorates
Apr. 24 in a low-profile manner but Mr. Obama mentions the word that
terribly scares off Ankara? Cross out the Americans. Jump into the
French-Italian bid. But did the French legislature not recognize
genocide in 2001 and even pass a bill that would have criminalized
denial? Yes, but that was long time ago and in 2012 Mr. Davutoglu
decided to forget about it all just because the French supreme court
overturned the denial bill (while the bill that recognizes genocide
remains effective).

Once again, Ankara is wrong in its carpet bazaar calculus. If Mr.

Obama once again avoids the word “genocide” in his annual speech, it
will not be because he fears the Turkish wrath, which does not exist –
other than as a joke. It will be because he will not wish to enable
Turkey’s rulers to run from one public rally to another and scream
to the already anti-American (and anti-Semitic) crowds that “this is
a dark imperialist-Jewish-American-Gulenist plot to stop the rise of
the Turkish empire.” A neat, extra two-to-four percentage points for
the ruling party. Public curses and private thanks to President Obama.

Turkey’s deterrence-through-$$$$$ policy on the Armenian genocide
issue embarrassingly collapsed in 2012. With the French precedent,
no country takes “Turkey’s wrath” seriously because it does not exist.

March/27/2015

From: Baghdasarian

TURKEY MAY GIVE NOD TO RUSSIAN MISSILE DEFENSE OFFER – OFFICIAL

(c) Sputnik/ Mihail Mokrushin
Europe
17:52 26.03.2015(updated 17:56 26.03.2015) Get short URL
117460
Turkey may reconsider a Russian proposal to jointly develop a missile
defense complex if the price is right and the technology transfer
terms are more acceptable to Ankara, a high-ranking official said in
Ankara earlier this week.

(c) AFP 2015/ ADEM ALTAN Is Turkey Turning Towards A Full Eurasian
Pivot?

Turkey launched a tender for the purchase of long-range air defense
systems in 2009. In 2013, Ankara announced that it had selected
China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp’s (CPMIEC) FD-2000
area defense system for its air and missile defense requirement,
dubbed T-LORAMIDS.

Beijing said it would line up the system for just $3.4 billion.

Moreover, unlike the other bidders, Beijing agreed to have some of
the missiles’ components to be built in Turkey, and to hand their
construction technology over to the Turkish side.

CPMIEC’s bid beat out the more expensive proposals from Italian-French
consortium Eurosam, maker of the SAMP/T Aster 30; a US partnership
of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, maker of the Patriot; and Russia’s
Rosoboronexport, which makes the S-300/S-400.

The announcement caused concern among Turkey’s NATO allies, above
all the United States. After the Chinese firm failed to meet all of
the conditions of the $3.4 billion tender Turkey announced it would
study rival bids.

“We could reconsider the Russian offer if the price and technology
transfer terms are significantly improved to make them more acceptable
to us,” the Turkish official said.

Read more:

From: Baghdasarian